Written Answers Tuesday 6 January 2009

Scottish Executive

Alcohol Misuse

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, as part of its Changing Scotland’s Relationship with Alcohol consultation, what research it commissioned in relation to the scale of the problem of proxy purchasing of alcohol; what the key findings were, and what additional research it is considering.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Misuse Survey (SALSUS) includes a question on where young people purchase their alcohol, which provides an indication of the extent of proxy purchase. In 2006, 22% of 13-year-olds and 29% of 15-year-olds reported buying alcohol from a friend or a relative.

Alcohol Misuse

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, as part of its Changing Scotland’s Relationship with Alcohol consultation, what research it commissioned in relation to tackling the problem of proxy purchasing of alcohol; what the key findings were, and what additional research it is considering.

Kenny MacAskill: No research has been commissioned. It is clear that in the short-term there needs to be a focus on enforcement of the law in respect of those who buy alcohol on behalf of someone underage and over the longer term we need to tackle the underlying attitudes to alcohol which leads relatives and friends to act as proxy purchasers.

  Local communities can also play a role by helping the police with enforcement by calling the police or Crimestoppers if they suspect someone of buying alcohol on behalf an underage person.

Cancer

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to improve early detection rates of oesophageal cancer.

Nicola Sturgeon: In June 2006, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) published a clinical guideline, Management of Oesophageal and Gastric Cancer , which provides comprehensive guidance to health care professionals on the recognition, management and follow up of patients with oesophageal cancer ( www.sign.ac.uk/pdf/sign87.pdf ).

  The SIGN guidelines are also highlighted in the HDL(2007)09 Scottish Referral Guidelines for suspected Cancer (www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/HDL2007_09.pdf). These are readily accessible by all health care professionals across NHSScotland.

Cancer

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the study of breast cancer screening that compared double reading of mammograms with a single reading and a computer assisted programme, as set out in page 38 of Better Cancer Care, An Action Plan , when a decision will be reached on which approach should be used in the Scottish Breast Screening Programme.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish National Advisory Group on Breast and Cervical screening (NAG) have agreed to invite the study group to meet in 2009 to present their findings. As all film images would have to be digitised, it would be impractical to introduce this new CAD technology until digital mammography is implemented. Scottish Breast Screening Programme is currently undertaking early planning for the introduction of digital mammography.

Cancer

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the Scottish Cancer Registry will be included in plans by the National Cancer Intelligence Network to start collecting information on the incidence of metastatic breast cancer.

Nicola Sturgeon: Information Services Division (ISD) is in discussions with the National Cancer Intelligence Network about how best to include information from the Scottish Cancer Registry in their work. It is likely that ISD will contribute an anonymised extract of cancer registry data linked to hospital data, which could be used to study some of the patients who develop metastatic disease. Any such agreement will depend on the establishment of satisfactory information governance arrangements.

Cancer

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to develop a national strategy on a metastatic breast cancer clinical nurse specialist service following the introduction of such a service by the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh.

Nicola Sturgeon: It is the responsibility of individual NHS boards to decide what particular model of service delivery best fits the need of their patients.

  The Scottish Government has recently published Better Cancer Care: An Action Plan which sets out a national strategy to improve care for all cancer patients. There are therefore no plans to develop a separate national strategy for a clinical nurse specialist metastatic breast cancer service.

Death Certificates

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has plans to add ethnicity information to death certificates.

Jim Mather: There are no such plans.

Economy

Alasdair Allan (Western Isles) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to address the economic circumstances in the Western Isles following such events as the announcement of the closure of the Lighthouse Caledonia fish processing factory on Lewis and the downturn in the Harris Tweed industry.

Jim Mather: The Lighthouse Caledonia announcement is of course regrettable and, coupled with the downturn in the Harris Tweed industry, poses obvious challenges to the Western Isles economy. The Scottish Government will continue to work with local partners, both in the public and private sectors, to consider all possible options for economic recovery and sustainability in the Western Isles.

Employment

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-7367 by John Swinney on 11 December 2007, what the most recent figures are for long-term unemployment in the Lothians region, broken down by local authority (a) area and (b) ward.

John Swinney: The Claimant Count gives the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits and is produced by the Office for National Statistics.

  (a) Table 1 shows the number of long-term unemployed people claiming unemployment related benefits in each local authority area in Lothians parliamentary region and also the long-term unemployed as a proportion of the resident working-age population and as a proportion of total unemployment in each local authority.

  Long-term unemployed are defined as those claiming unemployment related benefits for over 12 months. The latest data available are for November 2008.

  Table 1: Claimant Count Unemployment for Local Authorities in the Lothians Parliamentary Region, November 2008

  

 Local Authority
 Number of Long-Term Unemployed
 % of Resident Working Age Population who are Long-Term Unemployed
 Long-Term Unemployed as % of Total Unemployment


 East Lothian*
 35
 0.1%
 3.4%


 Edinburgh, City of
 510
 0.2%
 7.8%


 Midlothian*
 55
 0.1%
 5.3%


 West Lothian
 195
 0.2%
 6.7%


 All**
 795
 0.2%
 6.9%



  Source: Office for National Statistics

  Notes:

  1. Long-term unemployed defined as those claiming for over 12 months.

  2. Data on number of long-term unemployed rounded to the nearest five.

  3. *Only part of the local authority located in the Lothians Parliamentary Region but the data are for the full local authority area.

  4. **The figure for ALL is a total of the local authorities in the table. It does not provide an estimate for the Lothians Parliamentary Region.

  (b) Data on long-term unemployment by multi-member electoral ward is not held centrally.

Employment

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were unemployed in the Lothians region at the end of each of the last 12 months, broken down by local authority area.

John Swinney: The Claimant Count gives the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits and is produced by the Office for National Statistics.

  Table 1 shows the number of unemployed people claiming unemployment related benefits in each local authority area in Lothians parliamentary region for each of the last 12 months for which data are available.

  Table 1: Claimant Count Unemployment for Local Authorities in the Lothians Parliamentary Region, December 2007 to November 2008

  

 
 Local Authority


 Month
 East Lothian*
 Edinburgh, City of
 Midlothian*
 West Lothian
 All**


 December 2007
 628
 5,100
 762
 2,089
 8,579


 January 2008
 678
 5,437
 818
 2,319
 9,252


 February 2008
 701
 5,563
 846
 2,377
 9,487


 March 2008
 702
 5,546
 849
 2,334
 9,431


 April 2008
 678
 5,469
 822
 2,255
 9,224


 May 2008
 657
 5,371
 763
 2,306
 9,097


 June 2008
 630
 5,491
 738
 2,258
 9,117


 July 2008
 679
 5,719
 786
 2,425
 9,609


 August 2008
 789
 5,932
 932
 2,657
 10,310


 September 2008
 818
 5,919
 933
 2,658
 10,328


 October 2008
 886
 6,065
 937
 2,687
 10,575


 November 2008
 993
 6,545
 1,058
 2,936
 11,532



  Source: Office for National Statistics.

  Notes:

  *Only part of the local authority located in the Lothians Parliamentary Region but the data are for the full local authority area.

  **The figure for ALL is a total of the local authorities in the table. It does not provide an estimate for the Lothians Parliamentary Region.

Employment

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the median gross hourly earnings were for full-time employees resident in (a) Dundee, (b) Angus and (c) Aberdeenshire in the last year for which information is available, also broken down by gender.

John Swinney: The preferred source for earnings estimates is the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), which is carried out by the Office for National Statistics.

  Table 1 shows the median gross hourly earnings for full-time employees resident in Dundee City, Angus and Aberdeenshire local authorities. The latest year for which data is available is 2008.

  Table 1 – Median Gross Hourly Pay (£) for Full-Time Employee Jobs1 of People Resident in selected Local Authorities (2008)

  

 Local Authority
 All
 Male
 Females


 Dundee City
 11.00
 12.12
 10.14


 Angus
 11.75
 12.30
 11.18


 Aberdeenshire
 12.46
 13.21
 11.05



  Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics.

  Notes:

  1. Employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence.

  2. The estimates are based on a sample survey, and as such, are subject to sampling error.

Forth Crossing

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what role the Scottish Futures Trust will play in the construction of (a) the new Forth bridge and (b) other projects in the Scottish Transport Project Review, broken down by project.

John Swinney: The Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) is already actively engaged with Transport Scotland as sponsors of a number of major projects including the Forth Replacement Crossing. SFT will continue to provide expert advice to Transport Scotland, as it does to other parts of the public sector, on all aspects of the delivery and funding of infrastructure.

Forth Crossing

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive for what reasons the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) was rejected, in favour of public procurement in design and build, as a funding mechanism for the construction of the Forth Replacement Crossing.

John Swinney: Since its inception, SFT has provided guidance on value for money and delivery options in relation to the Forth replacement crossing project and this role will continue.

  The Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change, in his contribution to the parliamentary debate on 10 December, explained the Government’s reason for selecting public capital as the best funding route for the Forth Replacement Crossing. He said that in current financial market conditions and in light of thorough examination of value for money and budgetary aspects conducted by Transport Scotland, to rely on a market-funded solution for a project of this value at this time would have been a high-risk strategy. A "conventional" design and build procurement and funding strategy was assessed as offering better value for money for this project, and so was approved.

Hepatitis

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether drug treatment and testing orders include testing for hepatitis C.

Kenny MacAskill: The tests carried out as part of a Drug Treatment and Testing Order (DTTOs) are focussed on testing for the presence of a range of illegal drugs.

  Whilst testing for hepatitis C does not form part of the testing regime, the treatment aspects of a DTTO are considered to provide a range of health related benefits including a reduction in harmful behaviour and drug related illnesses, particularly blood borne viruses such as HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, etc.

Justice

David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to progress the Scottish Strategy for Victims .

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Strategy for Victims was published in 2001. A comprehensive review of the strategy is underway. The review is being driven by the Scottish Government’s commitment to put victims at the heart of the justice system and is focussing on how the commitment will be delivered as an integral part of the National Performance Framework.

Justice

David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any consideration has been given to the establishment of a commissioner for victims and witnesses similar to those appointed in England and Wales.

Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-18710 on 6 January 2009. The review of the Scottish Strategy for Victims will include consideration of a range of opportunities for improving the support of victims of crime. The need for a victims’ commissioner may be considered as part of this process.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Licensing

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what it is doing to facilitate the sharing of good practice between local licensing forums.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Government is funding a National Licensing Officer post within Alcohol Focus Scotland. Part of the remit of this post is to support and inform local licensing forums and encourage best practice on community engagement processes.

Licensing

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to set up a national forum of local licensing forums.

Kenny MacAskill: The National Licensing Forum was abolished by the previous administration. At a meeting with COSLA and Alcohol Focus Scotland on 12 June 2008, I made clear that the Scottish Government would welcome the sharing of good practice between licensing boards and would further welcome any effort by COSLA to establish an appropriate mechanism for doing that. Any action in this area may include sharing good practice between local licensing forums as well as between licensing boards.

Licensing

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what role it considers that COSLA should play in relation to local licensing forums.

Kenny MacAskill: The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 provides a national framework for licensing and significant scope for local policy setting and decision making. It is for COSLA to decide what role, if any, it should play over and above the respective roles of licensing boards and local authorities set out in the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 but we would encourage boards and local authorities to share good practice as the new forums settle into their role.

Lottery Funding

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-17664 by John Swinney on 18 November 2008, whether it considers it satisfactory that the Heritage Lottery Fund will no longer be part of the Awards for All scheme.

John Swinney: This is a matter within the operational responsibility of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The fund has advised that it remains committed to providing efficient and simple ways of funding small community projects throughout the UK. From April 2009 HLF will use its revised Young Roots and Your Heritage grant schemes to fund small community heritage grants up to the value of £19 million each year, rather than use the joint lottery distributors’ Awards for All scheme.

Lottery Funding

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-17664 by John Swinney on 18 November 2008, whether it considers the absence of the Heritage Lottery Fund from the Awards for All scheme to be in the best interests of applicants as the existing one-stop-shop will cease to exist.

John Swinney: This is a matter within the operational responsibility of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The fund has advised that the new arrangements will lead to a number of potential benefits for applicants applying to HLF for small community heritage grants. Under the new arrangements, HLF will be able to offer advice and help to applicants before they apply, there will be shorter and simpler forms and online applications to complete, and increased opportunities for mentors to help the delivery of projects. There will also be a rolling timetable with no deadlines and quicker decisions on applications.

Police

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the occasions since May 2007 when a minister has had the services of a police escort or outrider, showing the (a) minister, (b) nature of the event or journey and (c) total cost of the operation.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.

Scottish Government Communications

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it spent on (a) publicity and (b) advertising in each of the last three years.

John Swinney: The term "publicity" has been interpreted to mean the Scottish Government’s central marketing communications work. I refer the member to the Scottish Government website which shows the marketing spend for all advertising campaigns in the financial years 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Directorates/Services-Groups/Corporate-Services/17963/advertising-marketing/spend.

Scottish Government Finance

Aileen Campbell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-14893 by John Swinney on 23 July 2008, what information it has on the proportion of Scotland’s GDP that has been spent on international development, taking into account (a) Scottish Government and (b) Department for International Development funds and how this compares to the proportion of UK GDP spent on international development, in each year since 1999.

John Swinney: This information is not available for Scotland.

  There is no identifiable Scottish Government expenditure on international development specified in the HM Treasury publication Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis. Similarly, all DfID expenditure is outside UK or non-identifiable to UK regions. For the GERS publication, this is allocated to Scotland using a population share.

  Calculating this share as a percentage of Scottish GDP would reflect only the ratio of population to GDP. This figure would not be meaningfully comparable to the percentage of UK GDP.

Scottish Government Staff

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the policy of the Scottish Government and its agencies is in relation to dealing with allegations of bullying.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government’s aim is to ensure that all members of staff are able to work in an environment that is free from bullying, harassment, discrimination and victimisation and to feel safe and secure either in the workplace, or during work-related activities.

  Our Dignity at Work policy makes clear that the Scottish Government, as an employer, will not tolerate behaviour considered to be unacceptable and that we will take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that staff are able to work in a safe and non-threatening working environment. This includes contact with external stakeholders and other third parties.

  The policy also ensures that all staff are treated fairly at work and are able to pursue a grievance quickly and effectively. Any such complaints are dealt with sensitively, professionally, effectively and as quickly as possible. We also ensure that all line managers and other staff dealing directly with unacceptable behaviour in the workplace are equipped to identify and deal with these issues. We monitor all grievances, including those under our Dignity at Work policy, on an annual basis and address any issues arising from our monitoring quickly and appropriately.

Scottish Government Staff

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its employees took early retirement in each of the last three years.

John Swinney: The number of employees who took early retirement within Scottish Government Main which covers the core directorates, some agencies and associated departments is as follows:

  

 2005-06
 2006-07
 2007-08


 20
 22
 53

Student Finance

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what government financial support is available to independent students.

Fiona Hyslop: Full details of the government financial support available to independent students studying higher education courses at university or college can be found on the Student Awards Agency for Scotland’s website www.saas.gov.uk . Independent students wishing to attend further education courses can receive full advice on what they are entitled to from their college.

  Further details on what funding sources are provided for lone parents can be found at the following link www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Funding-Support-Grants/FFL/Publications.

Student Finance

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding sources are provided for lone parents studying higher education courses at university or college and studying further education courses.

Fiona Hyslop: Full details of the support available to lone parents studying higher education courses at university or college can be found on the Student Awards Agency for Scotland’s website www.saas.gov.uk . Lone parents wishing to attend further education courses can receive full advice on what they are entitled to from their college.

  Further details on what funding sources are provided for lone parents can be found at the following link www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/82254/0064841.pdf.

Student Finance

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding sources are provided for further education students at college and how this funding is distributed.

Fiona Hyslop: Full details of what funding sources are provided for further education students at college can be found at the following link: www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Funding-Support-Grants/FFL/Publications .

  Further education (FE) bursary funds are allocated by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), as part of their main recurrent allocation to colleges. Support for students on further education courses in college is distributed by the institution they attend. The SFC work with representatives from the college sector each year to set national guidelines for FE bursaries. The 2008-09 bursary policy can be found on the SFC website at the following link:

  www.sfc.ac.uk/information/info_circulars/sfc/2008/sfc1408/guidance_bursary.pdf.

Student Finance

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding sources are provided for higher education students at college and how this funding is distributed.

Fiona Hyslop: Full details of the support available to higher education students and how this funding is distributed can be found on the Student Awards Agency for Scotland’s website www.saas.gov.uk .

Supermarkets

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list meetings that the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment has had with representatives of the major supermarket chains since March 2008, also showing (a) the date each meeting took place, (b) the name of the supermarket chain that was represented and (c) what was discussed.

Richard Lochhead: The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment meets regularly with representatives of the major supermarket chains. Some of those meetings which have taken place include:

  Retailer Discussion Day - 8 April 2008

  Asda

  Sainsbury’s

  Morrisons

  Tesco

  M&S

  Somerfield

  The Co-op

  Waitrose

  Scottish Retail Consortium.

  Discussion centred on what retailers thought should be included in the National Food Policy and what the key issues were for them.

  Scottish Fisheries Council – 13 May

  Marks and Spencer

  Discussion included the setting of fisheries research priorities, fuel costs, the market potential of Scottish seafood in Europe and TAC prospects for 2009.

  Waste in Scotland – 15 May 2008

  Sainsbury’s

  Tesco

  The Co-Op

  Marks and Spencer

  Waitrose

  Asda

  Morrisons

  Scottish Retail Consortium

  British Retail Consortium.

  Discussion included issues relating to waste reduction in Scotland.

  Sustainability of the Pig Sector - 15 May 2008

  Asda

  Morrisons

  Somerfield

  The Co-op

  M&S

  Waitrose

  Tesco

  (Sainsbury’s submitted a written statement as they were unable to attend)

  Scottish Retail Consortium.

  Discussion centred on the sustainability of the Pig Sector.

  Royal Highland Show - 19 June 2008

  The Co-Op

  M&S

  Sainsbury’s

  Asda

  Tesco

  Discussion centred on the National Food and Drink Policy and Environmental issues.

  Meet the Buyer Event - 1 August 2008

  Asda.

  Discussion centred on the National Food and Drink Policy and the supply chain.

  Scottish Fisheries Council – 9 September

  Marks and Spencer

  Discussion included the setting of fisheries research priorities, fuel costs, the market potential of Scottish seafood in Europe and TAC prospects for 2009.

  Supermarket Summit - 24 September 2008

  Asda

  Sainsbury’s

  Tesco

  Morrisons

  M&S

  Somerfield

  Waitrose

  The Co-Op

  Scottish Retail Consortium.

  Discussion included the National Food and Drink Policy, Supply chains, Public Health in Scotland, Zero Waste Strategy, Energy and Homecoming 2009.

  Matheson’s – 24 November 2008

  Marks and Spencer

  Discussion centred on issues relating to the organic pork sector in Scotland.

Taxation

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the estimated number of Scottish residents who are not domiciled in the United Kingdom for tax purposes.

John Swinney: Taxation is a reserved matter and the Scottish Executive does not hold this information.